Murder trial: Doctor says toddler drowned

Dr. Samuel Land, who performed the autopsy of 2-year-old Jaques Omari Twinn, testified Tuesday the child was beaten so severely that he had a lacerated liver and brain injuries that caused his death on Nov. 7, 2011.

But Dr. Richard Bindie, director of pathology at Schuylkill Medical Center, said Wednesday a review of Land's autopsy report, photos, York Hospital emergency room notes, police reports and other documents pertaining to the child's death, could only lead him to the conclusion of a drowning.

Aric Woodard, 40, told police he was watching a friend's children when Jaques soiled himself while eating breakfast. He said he slapped the boy's hand and thigh in one swipe, "snatched him up," and told him to go to the bathroom.

Aric Woodard (Submitted)

Woodard, who said he considered the children his own, said he followed the boy upstairs, put four or five inches of water in the tub, washed Jaques and went back downstairs to clean the carpet. He said,in various statements, the boy was alone anywhere from two to less than 10 minutes.

He said when he returned to the bathtub, he found the boy sitting with his head slumped forward.

According to trial testimony, CPR was performed on Jaques at the scene and at the hospital.

Bindie said what first caught his attention was an emergency room note that an ultrasound was performed and no blood was found in the boy's abdomen. He said the triage team then went on to treat Jaques as a drowning victim, continuing CPR, inserting a breathing tube and introducing warm fluids into his body.

He said the ER staff also noted that fluid came out of the breathing tube.

Land said he found 250 ccs of blood in the boy's abdomen at autopsy. Asked by the defense about the clear ultrasound, Land responded that it was wrong.

Bindie said it was right and that the blood that Land found was caused by aggressive CPR at the hospital after the ultrasound. He said the blood, if present at the time of the ultrasound, could not have been missed.

Bindie explained that the brain injuries Land found were from an earlier incident when Jaques fell at the playground. Woodard said he had taken the boy to the ER then to make sure he was not injured. The doctors sent him home.

And, Bindie said, many of the bruises Land found on Jaques could be attributed to the administration of CPR.

Bindie said that lacerations of the liver are commonly found in people given CPR.